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Searching northwards for blue whiting

‘We’re heading northwards to search for blue whiting. The fishing has completely dropped off where we were west of Ireland. So we’re hoping for something this evening and tonight, and after that we’ll have to start heading for Vopnafjörður,’ said Albert Sveinsson, skipper of HB Grandi’s pelagic vessel Víkingur, when we checked in with him earlier this week for news of the fishing.

Víkingur is fishing in international waters west of the British Isles and hadn’t been far into the trip when the weather forced them to seek shelter in Donegal Bay.

‘It started well and we had 390 tonnes in two hauls by the time we had to find shelter. The weather was crazy and we had our hands full where we were at anchor. There wasn’t much of a lee and there are aquaculture cages everywhere. It’s not a big area and most of the time there were heavy seas, so it was a relief when we were able to get back to sea last Friday,’ he said, adding that after the storm, the fishing was excellent.

‘We were onto marks right away, and then some fine fishing. Then the area filled up with trawlers, and there was quite a fleet at work there. This morning there was one who managed to cut off another’s trawl, and as the fishing had dropped down to practically nothing, I decided it was time to look further north. We knew that there was one pelagic boat that had been fishing on a mark at the northern end of the area, and the idea was to search northwards. Otherwise, the clock is ticking down and it’s not long before we’ll have to be on the way home to discharge,’ Albert Sveinsson said, commenting that he reckons Víkingur’s catch last Tuesday amounts to 2150 tonnes.